Wednesday we had our regular meeting and the theme was hunters night due to the upcoming deer season. Most of the brothers dressed up in their hunting garb. We had a makeshift campfire, fully decked out with burning sterno cans. We do what we can.

Worthy Brother Craig Mason from Grand Lodge was invited to talk about the Masonic Charity Foundations and other charity events that the Masons sponsor. By the end of the night our lodge voted on sponsoring a sign that will be placed at next years golf outing. It was great to hear how involved the Masons are with children’s programs. In March we will be sponsoring a bowling event at the Royal Scot Bowling lanes here in Lansing.

After all the business was taken care of we elected the upcoming officers for 2014. I was again elected to be the Worshipful Master again for one more year. We have some great men that will be following me in the next couple years. Our goal is to set them up with some of their programs that they want to see the lodge do when they get in office.

We did some traveling last week. Five of us brothers, Gill, Kim, Ryan, Mike and myself went over to Grand Rapids on Wednesday for our new district meeting. The state has changed up the districts and we landed in the “Lucky” 13 which has 14 lodges in it.

My congratulations go out to Worthy Brother Gill for being elected as the new BGP for the district. I know you will do us proud.

After the meeting we received a outstanding tour of the lodge. If you ever get the chance to travel to this lodge you will not be let down.

Yankee Doodle Days

Yankee Doodle Days in Grand Ledge MI

The Masons here in Grand Ledge have been asked over the last couple of years to assist in the Yankee Doodle Days here in town to help run the beer tent and provide food and support. We had a very successful year this summer. We had a couple candidates come out of it along with some laughs and camaraderie between the brothers.

Red Cross Blood Drive

This year we started to assist the Red Cross by holding a blood drive in the lodge basement along with the Eastern Star. It was a slow event and we didn’t get the turnout that we had hoped but it may be the start of something good. I had been told in the past that it was held here for years. I’ve attached some pictures that I took during the set up.

Blood Drive at the Lodge.

Dinners out at local resturants

One of the few pictures that we got when we got together. The wives and kids would join us and fill the tables. This one was taken at Cancun in Grand Ledge. Our largest turn out was at Delucas on Willow and we had over twenty people at the dinner.

Scholarships

Below is a scholarship that we gave out this year. Attached is the article that was in the local paper.

The Grand Ledge Masonic # 179 awarded a financial contribution for the amount of $500 to Bryanna Leach, a sophomore at Grand Ledge High School, towards her costs of attending the Washington Journalism and Media Conference this summer being held at the George Mason University in Washington DC. Bryanna was nominated as a National Youth Correspondent to attend this conference because of her academic record and sincere interest in journalism and media.

In her letter to the Grand Ledge Masonic Lodge she indicated that she is extremely excited about this once is a lifetime opportunity and student leadership experience and traveling to Washington DC. She will be recognized as one of the most promising young leaders in journalism and media and will join other scholars from across the country to share in this unique experience where she will attend seminars and speeches by industry leaders and be challenged to work with her peers through simulations and group discussions. Bryanna indicated that while she will also earn one college credit, she will develop her leadership skills and gain a greater insight into the issues surrounding the future of journalism and what she can do now to be a part of this exciting field

The $500 check was given to Bryanna Leach at the Grand Ledge Masonic Lodge #179 by Worshipful Master Charles Munson and Secretary Robert Lindsay.

Nov 30
Masonic get together with other lodges in the area – location coming soon

Greetings Brothers,

Where did the year go? For our supper prior to the meeting we will be having a hunter themed meal. There are a few brothers that are bringing in some wild game dishes and chili. Some brothers plan on wearing there hunting cloths or dressing like they or heading to the great white north.

We are into November and its time for the elections for next year already. We have a few things that we need to close out for the year. Like I said before we will electing the new officers at our regular meeting. We need to wrap up the sales on the 50/50 tickets. I think we will fall short of our goal but I think we have paved the way and learned from it. I have already seen things that I would change to make it better. So if you have tickets out there that you haven’t sold please hit up the last few people you have and then we need to get those turned back into Bob so that he can close out the raffle and get it ready for the drawing. Thanks to all of you that took time to sell or purchase a ticket or two.

We will be having a visitor from Grand Lodge at the regular meeting. Worthy Brother Craig Mason will be coming to talk to us about the Charitable Foundation and School programs. If this is something you would like to hear about please stop on down and join us. It will be nice to see how we are impacting our local, state and federal charities.

As you can see in the calendar we are have an Honors/ Past Masters night. If you don’t have anything going that night I know the Past Masters would love to see you there. Its a great night to just spend some time with the PM that came before and sit around and hear some of their stories. Some of the issues that they dealt with when they sat in the East and how they over came it. Just good ol’ history of Our lodge. We also will be giving out the awards and we always honor the widows of our brothers that have went to that lodge not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

I have started a blog as a way to let people know what is going on with the lodge and to help promote the lodge/hall. The link to it is http://grandledgelodge179.blogspot.com . If any of you have pictures of some of the events that we do please feel free to send them to me so I can add them when I make my posts. I got the idea for another lodge that did a blog to keep the brothers up to date that didn’t use Facebook. This allows others that may not be masons to see how active our lodge is and if they may be thinking of renting the hall to see the possibilities.

Lastly, we are planning on having a maintenance day at the lodge on the 9th. We will be concentrating on the bathrooms and painting them. We will be having a prep day on Friday the 8th to get the walls ready for paint on Saturday, which will speed things up. If you can spare some time please come give us a hand. I don’t need your whole day, just some hours. Many hands make light work, we will talk more about it in lodge at the regular. Maybe have some breakfast before we kick off the work.

It’s finally here, the day we all wait for all month…Pasty Supper. As I write this there are brothers making fresh Pasties down in the kitchen of the lodge.

Part of the magic that happens behind the scenes.

The pasties are made from scratch on the day of the suppers. About nine years ago some brothers went up north and learned how to make them from another lodge that had a successful pasty program. Mike Beck and Steve Suchek have been the organizers and the life of the program. Steve is away on a deployment right now and the rest of us are helping Mike keep the program alive and growing. We start around 10 am making them and by 3pm they are done and the supper prep begins.

The supper is from 5-7 pm the third Friday of the month. The only exception will be next month and it will be held on the 22nd of November for our raffle. We also offer take out and frozen sales if that is what you desire.

Speaking of the raffle, if you haven’t got your ticket or two yet stop by and purchase one or two. It will be a 50/50 raffle with the prize being $10000 if we sell all 2000 tickets. The tickets are $10 a piece so the odds are really good.If you don’t know where to go, send me a message here and we will make sure you get one. This raffle will help the lodge with its several local events that it does with the community, such as scholarships.

We still haven’t hit the $1000 night for the suppers, but we are getting really close. Stop in for a taste of the U.P. today.

A big thanks goes out to all the folks that make this happen. It is a large task to accomplish the suppers and the pasty builds. I tip my hat to all of you. Thanks again for what you do.

On Wednesday we had the pleasure of bringing in a new brother for the lodge. I was out of town on a vacation/business trip and Brother Gill Lemonde sat in the East and officiated over the proceedings. Thank you Gill and all of the other brothers that stepped up and helped out. We had a couple of visitors that night also.

It’s good to see the lodge growing. We have a couple other candidates that will be coming into the lodge over the next couple months. There were a couple that approached us at the Yankee Doodle Days here in Grand Ledge over the summer. We also had a couple of transfers that came in from other lodges.

We are planning on a Lodge clean-up, fix up day on the 9th of November. There will be some prep work done on the bathrooms the night before so that we can speed up the process on Saturday. If you can help out, put on your work cloths and give us a couple hours.

Fall is here and the trees are changing, what better time to see it than a ride down the river on a paddle boat. There is everything from food, crafts, exhibits and even horse drawn wagon rides. There will be crafts and artwork in the basement of the Masonic lodge so feel free to stop in and see us, look around and share in a laugh or two. Come join us in celebrating one of the last nice weekends before the cold weather arrives.

Keep us in mind for all of your rental needs.

Our hall is a great place to hold, graduation parties, meetings, dances and birthday parties. For those of you that are looking to get married on the island, we are right across the parking lot, everything you need in one spot. Give us a call if you have the need or are looking for a great place to hold your event.

GRAND LEDGE, Mich. — Fall has officially arrived in Michigan which means that the weather will start to cool off, the leaves will start to change, and warm dishes sound more delicious. To get into the spirit of fall, the Grand Ledge Lodge 179 will be hosting a Pasty Dinner on Friday, October 18 from 5PM – 7PM.

The Pasty Dinner is always a delicious and enjoyable event – one you won’t want to miss out on! There will be two meal options, both a large dinner and a small dinner. The large dinner costs $8.00 and includes a 1 lb pasty, coleslaw, a beverage and dessert. The smaller option costs only $6.00 and includes a 1/2 lb pasty, coleslaw, a beverage and dessert – talk about a great deal!

Since pasty’s are a favorite for any Michigan resident, we’ll also be selling frozen pasty’s, 2 for $10. This is a great option for all the deer hunters, or perfect for those that have busy days and want something quick and easy for dinner.

While you’re enjoying the great company and delicious food at the Grand Ledge Lodge 179, make sure to pick up your 50/50 tickets for $10! Only 2000 tickets will be sold which means your odds of winning are pretty good! The minimum prize will be $500 and the maximum will be $10,000 – with Christmas right around the corner, the extra cash will be a great thing to have! The drawing will be held at our Nov. 22nd Pasty Dinner, so make sure to pick up your tickets while they’re still available!

If you’re interested in purchasing a raffle ticket, or you would like more information about the Grand Ledge Masonic Brothers, email cgmunce@me.com. The Grand Ledge Lodge 179 is located at 200 West River Street in Grand Ledge, MI. We are proud to be part of the Grand Ledge community but work hard to assist those in need on a local and national level. To stay in touch with our lodge, visit our Facebook page.